South Park Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy coming to this school. Pupils are respectful of their peers, staff and visitors.

They understand and follow the school's values of self-belief, perseverance, pride and success. Older pupils proudly act as role models to younger pupils. For example, the school has created opportunities for older pupils to become reading buddies to support younger pupils in their reading.

Pupils behave well because adults have clear expectations of how pupils should conduct themselves in school. Pupils are confident that adults will help them should they have any concerns. Pupils feel happy and are kept safe here.

The school has high aspirations for all pupils. Oft...en pupils join the school part way through each year. The school ensures that it knows precisely where any gaps in pupils' learning are, and then addresses them.

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are well supported and involved in every aspect of the school day. Pupils achieve well in their learning.

The school has thought carefully about how trips and visits support what pupils are learning in school.

For example, pupils visit art galleries, including the National Gallery and SPACE Ilford, to learn about artists and their work. Pupils also enjoy the regular opportunities to visit places of worship. They learn about those of different faiths and are taught about different kinds of families.

What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

Pupils experience a rich and vibrant education across subjects. The school has carefully considered the curriculum that pupils will follow. It has made sure that a broad range of subjects is studied and that learning is well sequenced overall.

The curriculum is enriched through specialist teaching in some subjects, such as physical education, music and art and design.

The school has ensured that what is taught builds logically and that teaching supports pupils to remember this subject content well. In a few subjects, however, the curriculum is not as well thought out and this leads to some gaps in pupils' knowledge and understanding.

This is because, although the school has considered what pupils should know by the end of each year, some teaching does not build towards these aims. Leaders are aware of this and have been putting plans in place to address this. They are also checking that their actions are having the impact that they have planned for.

Children start learning to read using phonics as soon as they begin the Reception Year. Pupils who join the school midway through the year are assessed so that teachers understand and fill any gaps in understanding. The school's approach to phonics is ambitious, with reading books closely matched to the sounds that pupils are learning.

The school has organised sessions for parents to explain how the school teaches phonics. These sessions aim to help families be better able to support their children with reading at home. Pupils enjoy reading and older pupils speak enthusiastically about books that staff recommend to them and their new library spaces.

The early reading curriculum carefully considers how to support all pupils, including those who speak English as an additional language, or with SEND, gain the skills and knowledge they need to learn confidently alongside their peers. In other subjects, too, pupils' needs are well identified and planned for so that they are successful in learning the curriculum.

Children in the early years settle into school life well.

They follow the school's clear routines and expectations. The curriculum provides children with the knowledge and skills they will need for their learning in the future. Staff have ordered and set out the knowledge that they want children to learn, step by step, by the time they leave early years.

The school has thought carefully about how pupils' broader development is supported and how this supports their learning of academic subjects. The school provides pupils with knowledge and experiences that aim to help them to become well-rounded individuals. Special events for pupils help to foster their sense of community.

For example, pupils recently participated in Christmas carol singing at Paddington Station to raise money for charity. As well as plentiful clubs and sports activities, a growing number of pupils also take part in the Junior Duke Awards, learning responsibility and life skills.

The school has been working with families to improve attendance.

When parents struggle with their children's attendance, the school provides support, and gives clear messages on the importance of regular attendance and that every day of learning counts. This has helped to secure improvements over time for some pupils, but for others absence remains high. In some instances, the school's actions are not as well targeted as they could be in understanding and addressing the specific barriers that prevent a pupil from attending as regularly as they should.

Staff appreciate how the school considers their workload. They particularly like that regular meetings have a clear focus on developing their knowledge of different aspects of the curriculum and keep safeguarding a high profile within the school.

The governing body is aware of and fulfils its responsibilities for the welfare of staff effectively, including the well-being of senior leaders.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Attendance for some pupils is low. This means that these pupils can miss out on learning important curriculum content as well as the wider opportunities offered by the school.

The school should refine its approaches for monitoring the attendance of these pupils to ensure that patterns and trends in absence are better identified and used to inform strategies to improve attendance. ? Delivery of the planned curriculum in a few subject areas is not focused enough on building knowledge progressively. While staff understand what long-term goals pupils need to work towards, they are sometimes less clear on what needs to be taught and remembered at each stage so that pupils achieve these goals.

This means that pupils' understanding and recall of some subject knowledge is not secure. The school should strengthen approaches to checking and refining the delivery of the curriculum across all subjects. This includes training for staff to ensure that they know what key subject content should be taught at each stage of the curriculum.